Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Enfield Trash Barrel Talk Evolves Into School Boar...":
The Dr. Fusco presentation was a joke. I went in with an open mind and with high hopes that this self proclaimed expert might provide wisdom and insights that would help us save our failing education system. Well, I was extremely disappointed.
Here is a man with advanced degrees (Dr.?) and a wealth of public experience who had difficulty crafting a message and presenting it in a way that was constructive and in a way that inspired confidence. Instead he was angry and degrading. His anecdotes were self serving and his message confused. I was disappointed that I wasted 2 hours that I can never recapture.
Buried deep deep in his content was a message of controls and generally accepted business practice. You had to squint your eyes real hard and listen to every 6th word to hear it, but it was there. I'd suggest to Mr Fusco that if he wants to take this show on the road that he rethink his message, refine his presentation, and polish is delivery. Only then he may get the right people to listen.
Mr. Arnone's reaction was expected. He lashed out at someone who on several occasions belittled the Board and all but called them ignorant. Sorry Mr. Fusco, we all don't have advanced college degrees.
As for the board or ed and more specifically the majority, they're sadly confused as to what problem they're trying to solve. They want the corruption gone, right? Do they feel they're being intentially scammed by the administration? If so, then why haven't they made any changes in the administration? Andre, Sue and Chuck have been there for awhile so what's their excuse now that they have the majority. All the posturing when in the minority was some ruse? No. I smell the stink of fear on our majority.
Better yet, let's say in all of their auditing and searching, the Board finds a million dollars. Wow! It is a nice sum of money, right? But don't buy balloons and party favors just yet. It's a one time find, sort of like finding a $5 bill on the ground. It is some short term relief but does nothing to solve your long term problem of being broke. What will the school board do for an encore when they need another million or 2? Find more corruption? They will resort to the old methods of cut cut cut. It's plain that our new School Board majority has no real plan, no clue as to what problems they're trying to solve. Could it be all about the votes? Cracking down on "corruption" does make the news. Let's hope they are bigger than that.
I'd suggest Mr. Greco step up and try to lead here. He should take a step back to understand their responsibilities and why we need them to be successful. Then get to work. Finding a million is great and I wish them luck, but it does little to solve the real problems facing our education system and the reason they're there, the children whose futures hang in the balance.
Posted by Anonymous to The Cool Justice Report at 7:09 AM
9 comments:
Why is it that when the Democrats don't have a valid argument they always resort to personal attacks? I remember Andre Greco saying he wasn't looking for corruption at all, but instead was searching for efficiencies.
So why is it that the Democrats automatically jump to making personal attacks instead of helping in the process?
I am very interested in finding out what the citizens' committee will find after an in-depth audit of the school system finances.
I for one would be ecstatic if they find a "spare" million dollars, one time or not. Apparently Enfield's Democrats believe in the concept that a million here, a million there, and soon we're talking real money.
Sure smells like fear out there. The Democrats are protesting too much, and much to personally. Try sticking to ways to economize and make our system more efficient.
"It's a one time find, sort of like finding a $5 bill on the ground. It is some short term relief but does nothing to solve your long term problem of being broke."
So raising taxes is the solution instead?
So let me get this straight, you think that finding an extra million dollars lying around isn't that big a deal?
I don't know about your company, but at mine, a million dollars isn't waiting to be found under a rock, here and there. If it were, I guarantee you the board of directors would have something to say about it: they'd fire the CEO.
What kind of management would leave a million dollars lying around? What does that say about all the years the democrats ran the BOE? They're jealous.
So finding a million dollars isn't that big a deal? What's next? Are you gonna tell me that , "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength?
What kind of indoctrination is this?
" Mr. Arnone's reaction was expected. He lashed out"
His reaction was expected? By whom? "Lashing out" @ at an invited guest (who's held the superintendent position in various towns) @ an informational meeting is both immature and unprofessional. His conduct was unbecoming of a BOE member.
One doesn't have to agree with everything or anything Dr Fusco said but lashing out only makes the "lasher" appear the fool. Plus, it drew negative press for Enfield.
Every hear the line, "It's better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you are a fool than to open it and remove any lingering doubt." That should be
Mr Arnone's practice in the future.
"It's a one time find, sort of like finding a $5 bill on the ground. It is some short term relief but does nothing to solve your long term problem of being broke."
To say the Town is Enfield is run by the "fiscally challenged" is putting it mild. This is a Town who was owed thousands of dollars by the State for Corrections' sewage usage, but they opted to settle for pennies on the dollars. Talk about money down the drain!
This is the same Town, who after being informed they had contaminated soil under a high school athletic field, managed to purchase more tainted soil to "cap" it with (and now they expect the State to pay for the renovation - we'll see if the Town ever sees a penny from the State for this expense. Those were merely campaign promises).
This is the same Town who's planning to build a $1 million dollar 1 mile bike path to the Town's dump (which is located on Town Farm Rd, not Ecology Rd - put there's a new sign that reads Ecology Rd @ entrance).
Recently Enfield sold a building & 36 acres of prime real estate
to the State of CT for $2 million (leased for Asnuntuck Community College). This is 36 acres that the Town will not be able to collect tax revenues on.
Should this new BOE "find" a million dollars, they should run the Town. Because thus far all Enfield Town officials have been able to do is raise taxes on their residents, and let money flow through their fingertips.
As they say, "the only person who looks forward to change, is a wet baby."
Enfield isn't known for encouraging
or embracing "change". But perhaps w/the Republican
party at the helm, "change" won't
be looked at as such a bad thing.
Regardless of how one feels about another, every elected official has the responsibility to be civil during presentations. If a public offical is allowed to lash out at an invited guest, what's stopping him from lashing out at a taxpayer?
Gotta learn to bite his tongue if he can't control his emotions in these situations.
>citizens' committee will find after an in-depth audit of the school system finances.
Believe some on this newly appointed committee are dynamos when it comes to "sharpening the pencils". If anyone can find or save the Town a dime, it should be this group IF they're allowed to question all expenses, and don't have their hands tied as was the case with previous citizen groups.
& once they complete the school budget audit, they should take a look @ the overall Town budget.
Someone needs to quickly "find" some money in Enfield, because too many are too busy spending my hard earned dollars.
According to latest in Courant, Enfield's BOE voted to hold Fermi's graduation in Bloomfield again this year. Even though the Fermi football field is "done" (and cost the Town $ millions to renovate).
Whatever happened to holding a high school graduation @ the high school? That's where the students
want it. @ their school. Not miles away, in some other town.
Talk about a waste of time and gas to travel there. Plus, you're encouraging more students to be on the road on a night that's already questionable when it comes to accidents among young drivers.
Nice work new BOE. Didn't take you long to spend my $$$ on something foolish and needless. Why did the Town renovate that athletic field if its only going to be used for football (and by a team that hasn't won a game)?
http://www.courant.com/news/local/nc/hc-enfgrad0125.artjan25,0,2772201.story
"The cost of renting the facility is about $7,400, Chris Drezek, business manager, said in a memo.
Some parents and students had advocated having the graduation in the newly renovated football stadium. However, officials have said using the field would create an extra expense in trying to protect the synthetic surface."
"Some parents and students had advocated having the graduation in the newly renovated football stadium. However, officials have said using the field would create an extra expense in trying to protect the synthetic surface."
Now isn't that a novel idea - high school students and their parents preferring to have their high school graduation ceremonies on their school's football field. Who would have "thunk" it?
Enfield's blown it once again when its officials either didn't bother to ask during renovation process, or didn't bother to inform taxpayers ahead of time that this newly renovated, multi-million dollar Fermi High football field wouldn't be usable for such typical things as the high school graduation. Hard to imagine that a high school graduation could be harder on a new athletic field than a typical high school football game.
Was this another Enfield athletic field committee "secret", or just one of the many "after-the fact" communication "blunders"?
So hard to say when it comes to local politics and the many ways Enfield officials continue to waste taxpayers' dollars.
Appears Enfield's BOE member, Arnone, is at it again. According to Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-enfboe0130.artjan30,0,5499322.story
"Teachers generally agree one of the most important ways to improve Enfield schools would be to upgrade technology.
That's according to a survey of 282 teachers that was discussed by the board of education Tuesday. It was sent out so the board could get input on the district's spending priorities, board Chairman Andre Greco said."
"But Greco said the survey results didn't turn out the way he'd hoped. The survey, he said, was not circulated to all staff and administrators, and he did not know why. Also, the Enfield Teachers Association sent a letter to its members warning that the survey could be detrimental to them, should they happen to fill it out incorrectly."
"Board member Thomas Arnone said he thinks the union did the right thing and the board should be happy that no one told teachers not to respond. "We got some good responses," Arnone said."
The union did the right thing by sending a letter to Enfield teachers, warning them that the survey could be detrimental to them?
Surveys cost time and money to create, distribute and tally. So how much time and money was wasting sending out the surveys that didn't yield much?
Who's looking out for Enfield students' best interest here? Would appear someone on BOE is more interested in looking out for the union's best interest.
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